GolfSixes League Has Produced Talented Young Golfers

Since it was launched back in 2017, the Golf Foundation has welcomed 33,823 kids in GolfSixes League fixtures across the four Home Nations, with the benefits now obvious after the Suffolk Golf Union revealed that half of their recent under 16 squad all started the game through the initiative.

In 2024 alone, 9,179 youngsters took part across 738 clubs. A quarter of the players were girls, too, including several dedicated girls-only leagues. As the Golf Foundation seeks to continue their mission of not only introducing young people to the game but also growing the diversity within the sport, GolfSixes League is having an effect.

While the success of GolfSixes League is clear to see across all four of the the Home Nations, the work in Suffolk is a great example of the impact that the initiative can have beyond just a fun introduction to team golf.

After receiving a generous donation in 2017, with the provision it was spent on junior golf in the county, the Suffolk Golf Union (SGU) turned to the Golf Foundation to find a way to grow the game at the grassroots level. 

Each club was offered £100 for each GolfSixes League fixture they hosted, and club PGA professionals were offered £40 per session to provide five sessions of coaching to players who represent their club in GolfSixes League match.

The ambition of the SGU in supporting GolfSixes was to identify players, both boys and girls, who would go on to achieve a handicap and improve to such an extent that they would become of a sufficient standard to represent the county at various age groups and eventually to represent the men’s or women’s teams.

The SGU now has a ‘Pathway for Junior Golfers in Suffolk’ which starts with GolfSixes League and progresses through the new GolfNines initiative, onto three Junior Development Hubs and then to the age group squads. 

"GolfSixes League has proved to be an unqualified success in Suffolk," said Trevor Mason, Chairman of the county’s junior committee. "Supported by the Golf Foundation and the Golf Union, clubs have bought into the concept of providing not only great fun but also a competitive element for their beginners by competing in the leagues. This has stimulated the interest in golf, not only of the players but also in their parents who are very supportive. I have no doubt that we would not have been in this position had it not been for GolfSixes and the support provided by the Golf Foundation."

"It’s brilliant to see the success of GolfSixes League in Suffolk, with the men’s union committing funding to an additional league in the county right at the start of the initiative and always being at the forefront of testing enhancements to the programme such as GolfNines," added Brendon Pyle, CEO of The Golf Foundation. "GolfSixes League has been an incredible programme for us, and we’ve worked closely with The R&A and Home Nations to grow the competition from 4 leagues and 27 clubs in 2017 to 127 leagues and 738 clubs in 2024.  It’s now a bonus to see that our programme designed for beginner golfers in clubs is tangibly helping the county squads.To know they started their journey with GolfSixes League and are now playing at the top of the county level, with a bright future ahead, shows that we are doing something right. Let’s hope we see a GolfSixes League graduate lifting the Claret Jug or the AIG Women’s Open Trophy one day!"

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